Couple of other points:
-- If posssible, talk directly to your DC's college counselor about your high school's track record with specific colleges. Use your high school's Naviance service if possible, but definitely try to get a sense of how similar kids to yours have fared.
-- I also found the official common data set spread sheets for individual colleges to be useful tools, the closest I could find to unbiased information.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Use the common application and apply to any school that you might go too.

2. Don't get obsessed with going to the highest ranked school that you can get into. Getting a big scholarship at a decent state school might be better than paying big bucks for a prestigious name (within reason).

3. If your child wants to go to grad school, go to a school that is cheap and easy. Grad schools are all about undergrad GPAs and test scores. A high GPA/GRE from XYZ State University is better than mediocre grades and scores from a prestige SLAC.

great advice!

Good advice with a caveat.....the prestigious SLACs avoid "grade inflation" at all costs. That means, 3.2 to 3.5 while "low" is not bad! There are some very well knows SLACs where the average is 3.2!!! The grad schools and employers know this and take it into account.

Anonymous wrote:1. It's wayyyyy harder to get into (insert college name here) than what you remember.

2. Does DC play a sport/have other demanding extracurriculars? Start those apps now!

3. Early decision if you can afford it. There's a huge admissions boost in many cases.

4. Acceptance to at least one rolling admssions school can eliminate the need for a safety.

5. If DC does apply early, still have him/her fill out the regular decision apps. Nothing worse than getting bad news, then having to fill out multiple applications....all during Christmas break!

6. College Confidential, especially the parents forum and the financial aid forum, is a great resource.

Been through it twice and totally agree with this advice. As a corollary to 1., be realistic about where your kid needs to be in the stats range. If he or she (especially a she) is an unhooked kid then you better be at or in the top quartile of the score and GPA ranges.

All great suggestions, but ^^ is the most important. Please don't dangle a $65K a year LAC in front of your kid if your family cannot afford it.

If you have not already done this, I would advise an honest conversation with your kid about the financial realities. This doesn't mean you have to tell him/her about the details of your family finances or even how much you and/or DH make, but please let them know how much if any you're willing & able to pay per year. Tell your child if there are schools/types of schools you would not pay for. Let him/her know what conditions if any you will place on your financial assistance (do you require a certain school? major? GPA? other requirements?). If he/she will need to take out loans for school, discuss this and the amounts and implications. Please don't put your kid in the position of applying to (or worse being admitted to) a very expensive dream school believing that you will/will be able to pay, if that is not truly the case.

1. It's wayyyyy harder to get into (insert college name here) than what you remember.

2. Does DC play a sport/have other demanding extracurriculars? Start those apps now!

3. Early decision if you can afford it. There's a huge admissions boost in many cases.

4. Acceptance to at least one rolling admssions school can eliminate the need for a safety.

5. If DC does apply early, still have him/her fill out the regular decision apps. Nothing worse than getting bad news, then having to fill out multiple applications....all during Christmas break!

6. College Confidential, especially the parents forum and the financial aid forum, is a great resource.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing: outside of the Northeast, people are far less snobbish about what school you went to.

Eh, its on a firm basis. Look at the schools google or MSFT do on campus recruiting at, especially for non-tech positions.

the west can be quite snobbish as well.

Prestige employers can afford to be choosy anywhere. For every Google and Facebook, there are a thousand other companies in the area that are not nearly as picky.

That's just in business, though. In the Northeast, people often judge your social status, by where you went to school. It's not that blatant in other parts of the country.

Be realistic about "match" and "reach" schools. Decide how many schools you want to apply to and balance out the reaches and matches. The goal is to have choices once the acceptances are out.

Anonymous wrote:1. Use the common application and apply to any school that you might go too.

2. Don't get obsessed with going to the highest ranked school that you can get into. Getting a big scholarship at a decent state school might be better than paying big bucks for a prestigious name (within reason).

3. If your child wants to go to grad school, go to a school that is cheap and easy. Grad schools are all about undergrad GPAs and test scores. A high GPA/GRE from XYZ State University is better than mediocre grades and scores from a prestige SLAC.

great advice!

Anonymous wrote:Another thing: outside of the Northeast, people are far less snobbish about what school you went to.

Eh, its on a firm basis. Look at the schools google or MSFT do on campus recruiting at, especially for non-tech positions.

the west can be quite snobbish as well.

Does anyone use professional help to edit/proofread essays?

Thanks, any other advice?

Another thing: outside of the Northeast, people are far less snobbish about what school you went to.

1. Use the common application and apply to any school that you might go too.

2. Don't get obsessed with going to the highest ranked school that you can get into. Getting a big scholarship at a decent state school might be better than paying big bucks for a prestigious name (within reason).

3. If your child wants to go to grad school, go to a school that is cheap and easy. Grad schools are all about undergrad GPAs and test scores. A high GPA/GRE from XYZ State University is better than mediocre grades and scores from a prestige SLAC.

All you seasoned college students and parents of college students, please give us your best advice about college applications.